


Heart of Fire

by peachaura



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Blood, Death, Expect to cry, Kidnapping, M/M, Phandom Big Bang 2017, Sort Of, Violence, Weapons, and its oddly cute, but I promise its a happy ending, but like dans drunk, near starvation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 23:21:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12641385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachaura/pseuds/peachaura
Summary: Phil Lester, the most notorious pirate captain to sail the seven seas did nothing more with his time then capturing and selling supernatural creatures on the black market. Well, almost nothing more…Phil had always had an impractical dream to catch a dragon, a creature that had been extinct for years, or so people said. So imagine Phil’s surprise when he actually finds one—though, when secrets get revealed and emotions get in the way, things don’t go quite to plan.ORthe one where Phil's a pirate and Dan's a dragon and things don't happen the way they were supposed to





	Heart of Fire

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is for the Phandom Big Bang 2017 and was originally posted on my tumblr -->  
> http://jewelphan.tumblr.com/post/167165950105/heart-of-fire

The sun peeked out from behind the clouds as the last few loads of people shuffled their way off the ship. Their bodies were frail and starved and many were having difficulties walking, but Captain Philip Lester didn’t care; so long as he got a decent amount of money from selling them, he could not care less as to where they ended up. Whether they got drowned in the bottom of the ocean, or became a slave to some rich family, Phil  _didn’t care._  They were monsters, abnormal beasts that weren’t meant to walk on the earth, so wherever they wound up, they sure as hell deserved it.

Phil let out an impatient huff as the last of the monsters dragged themselves off the deck of his ship. No matter how many times he went through this exact procedure, he couldn’t help but feel like it got longer and longer each and every time. It was exhausting. He sometimes wished he could just drop them off and leave, but, unfortunately for him, he had to stay for the auctions if he wanted his money.

The last of the monsters straggled their way off the ship, and all the prisoners maneuvered their way into as straight of a line as they could, as instructed by Phil’s crew. Their posture was sloppy and their legs locked or visibly trembling. It was clear many of them were having trouble standing, but Phil payed no mind to them. He just wanted to get this over with so he could set out back onto the seas again.

“Alright everybody, listen up!” Phil commanded. “I’m only gonna say this once, so pay attention. As many of you know, we’ve arrived on Glyra, the only island known to auction off the supernatural, ergo, all of you,” Phil gestured to everyone in front of him with a wave of his hand. “Here you will be sold off to the highest bidder, and if you even  _think_ of running, well, let’s just say it won’t end well for you. If you follow the rules and stay attentive, you may just end up with a sane owner, but I’m certainly not one to make promises. Who you get sold to is none of my concern, just the money I receive from your buyer. Have I made myself clear?”

There were quiet grunts and nods in response to Phil’s question, something he was used to. He had given this exact speech nearly a hundred times before, nothing the captives said or did ever surprised him anymore.

“Good,” he said with finality. “Now follow me and keep up.”

He started heading towards the auction house with the captives trailing behind him. Phil’s crew would occasionally hit them to make them walk faster. Phil was not a patient man, and he certainly didn’t have time to waste on these all-but-useless creatures.

Much to the probable relief of the captives, it didn’t take them but a few moments to get to their destination. The majority of the people who sold at the auction house came from overseas, so it seemed sensible to place it near the harbor. The auction house was the most desired location on the island, though it certainly wasn’t the only place that sold illegal merchandise on it. In actuality, the entire island acted as one of the most colossal and thriving black markets in the world, as far as Phil heard. He hadn’t been to many other underground economy islands, not that there were man, so he couldn’t confirm the rumors for himself.

“Captain Lester!”

Phil internally groaned as he turned around to face the very annoying, always subservient, and rather dull owner of the auction house.

“Mr. Thompson,” Phil greeted, trying his hardest to bite back any rude remarks that threatened to slip from his lips.

“It’s always a pleasure to have the infamous Captain Lester back on Glyra,” Thompson said gleefully, grinning from ear to ear as he did. He glanced behind Phil and his sickening grin widened. “I see you have a nice new selection of creatures for me to bid off today.”

“Aye, and I hope you do well in selling them. I’m not here to have my time wasted,” Phil said bitterly, his voice flat and serious without a hint of sarcasm. He wasn’t in the mood today. He just wanted to get this over with and leave.

Thompson’s smile faltered slightly before resuming in all its sleazy glory. “You know I always get the best bids from your, shall we say,  _items._ ”

“For your sake, let’s hope you continue to,” Phil answered dryly.

“Of course,” the auctioneer chuckled uneasily. “Now if you’ll just lead your captives to the backroom, we’ll start auctioning momentarily.”

Phil ordered his crew to guide the monsters to the backroom as he followed Mr. Thompson to the main stage of the auction house. Phil had been on the stage many times before, and truthfully, it never really changed. It had always remained the same; a small wooden platform pushed against the wall of a very large room. Throughout the years it had served many purposes, usually never for of good intent, but neither was the island it sat on. The stage, and the island, had become a sort of constant familiarity to Phil. What he did there he wasn’t always proud of; deep down, he knew what he was doing was wrong _,_ but he hatedeverything to do with the supernatural, and as a pirate, he couldn’t find the time to feel guilty or care about what he did. Everything he did was all for the money.

For the most part anyway.

“So, are you still trying to follow that dream of finding a dragon?” a voice said from behind him.

Phil whipped his head around and a smile stretched across his face, shouting: “Finn!”

Finn was a thin guy with the personality and temperament of a child. He was always joking around and had a very bubbly aura. However, despite his childish ways, he was extremely intelligent. “What are you doing here? Last I heard you were in England digging up some lore on extinct creatures.”

“I was,” he said with a smile. “And I found some interesting facts on dragons, or rather, heard some things about them, and I knew I should tell you as soon as possible; that is, if you’re still trying to track one down?” he added questioningly.

“I am,” Phil said, always curious as for what his friend had to say.

“Well, then you’ll be pleased to hear that there have been some rumors going around,” Finn said, grinning.

“Continue,” Phil answered eagerly, a little frustratedly. He hated when Finn dragged things out, it really wasn’t necessary.

“Always the impatient one,” he giggled. “Anyway, just north of Norway, on this small island called Nolst, people have been talking. They say they’ve been hearing strange roars and howls, one’s that seem to perfectly imitate the cry of a dragon; according to how they’re described in the books anyway.”

“That’s interesting,” Phil murmured; it certainly spiked his curiosity.

“It’s not much, but it’s been awhile since you’ve had anything to go on. So I say, you check it out,” he suggested.

“I will,” Phil smiled. “Thank you, Finn.”

“Anytime, cap’n!” He gave an over-the-top salute and a large grin before wandering off.

This was incredibly good news for Phil. He had been searching for a dragon for as long as he could remember, and as Finn had said, it had been awhile since he had anything to go on. Now that Phil finally had a lead, he sure as hell wasn’t going to let the chance escape him. He suddenly didn’t care much about the auction nor the money he was going to make from it. If the rumors were true, and there actually was a dragon, then Phil could earn eons more money than whatever a quick bidding could make him. And even if there wasn’t a dragon, losing a bit of money wasn’t going to hurt him.

Phil quickly made his way to the backroom and found Mr. Thompson getting all the captives into position for the auction.

“Thompson,” Phil called. “Something has come up and I’ll likely be gone before the auction begins.”

“But Captain,” the man started. “What am I to do with the money?”

“Keep it,” Phil said simply.

“Keep it, Captain?” The man asked warily. “All of it?”

“Did I stutter?” Phil asked with an annoyed glare.

“What about your crew, Captain?”

“What about them?” Phil snapped.

“Won’t they be angry about not getting their payment?”

“They’ll live,” Phil growled. His crew loved money and gold just as much as the next pirate. However, as soon as they knew what they were going after, they would gladly ditch a couple hundred gold coins to catch it. Dragons were fierce and deadly creatures, ones not to be meddled with, and their powers were not to be challenged, but that’s what made them worth so much. If there was a dragon roaming around in the world—which Phil knew there was, there  _had_ to be—it would be worth so much gold, Phil would be able to drown in it. Granted, gold wasn’t the only thing he was after; he was after something much more precious.

Something that could get him in very deep trouble if anyone found out.

“I’ll trust you’ll survive on your own, Mr. Thompson,” Phil said even as he turned away. “Have a good day.”

Phil walked off, gathering his crew and ordering them to get the ship ready. Mr. Thompson tried to call after Phil in choppy stutters, but Phil ignored him. Phil joined his crew in loading the ship with supplies. They probably wouldn’t be back on land for a few weeks, so he was sure to stock up on plenty of food and water. The crew wasn’t too big, consisting only of about fifteen people, but it was enough.

Phil had always been considered the most dangerous pirate to sail the seven seas. He wasn’t sure why he was titled as such, he wasn’t an especially cruel guy, he had met pirates much  _much_ worse than him, but for some reason, the world saw him as the worst. Perhaps it was because he became a pirate when he was only ten, or because he became a captain at only sixteen. Or maybe it was because he had destroyed thousands beyond thousands of unnatural creatures. It’s even possible that people only saw him as dangerous because he was the only one crazy enough to hunt down a dragon.

Whatever the reason, he was kind of grateful of his feared title. For if he wasn’t feared, it would be very hard to get what he wanted. And what he wanted was a dragon, something he was finally close to getting.

“Captain, we’re almost done preparing the ship,” PJ, Phil’s first mate said steadily. “When will we be departing?”

“As soon as we can,” Phil answered. “We have a dragon to capture.”

“Aye, Captain,” PJ nodded. “We’ll head out shortly then.”

“Aye, we shall.”

Phil clapped PJ on the back and headed towards his ship. Not only was he finally headed after a dragon, but he was also getting off this damn island. He never did like the stupid island, the only reason he kept coming back was for business purposes. It wasn’t Phil’s fault that Glyra was the only place that would auction supernatural creatures.

“Set sail for Nolst, in the northern fjords of Norway!” Phil commanded as he jumped onto the deck.

His crew scrambled to do some last minute preparations while Phil headed towards the ship’s wheel. It would take approximately a week to get to Nolst, but the weather was getting rapidly colder as the days went on, so there could be some delays. However, so long as Phil got that dragon, he didn’t care how long it would take.

Most people thought Phil was after a dragon because of the legends about them. There were many myths that the tears of dragons could heal almost any wound. That was one of the reasons dragons were so sought after, also one of the reasons they were extinct. The stories said that hundreds of years ago people hunted dragons and tortured them to try and get them to weep. It never worked and the torture sooner killed them; eventually wiping them from existence (or so people claimed). Though Phil didn’t care about the magical tears that dragons supposedly possessed, nor was he hunting one for the money that it would give. He was chasing one for more personal reasons; reasons that he would sooner die than tell. The truth was, Phil wasn’t entirely human. Phil had dragon blood in him. His father had been a dragon, and Phil hated it so, so much, at least, he did  _now_.

He didn’t always hate his dragon side; he used to embrace that side of him, but then his parents ended up dead because of what his father was—because of what  _he_ was. And ever since that day he hated every ounce of dragon-blood within him. He was  _so young_ and filled with rage that it never truly dissipated, even after years. He was ashamed of what he was and he pretended that side of him didn’t exist. It wasn’t really that hard either, Phil could never actually turn into a dragon, but he had the heightened senses that came with it, easy to suppress as they were.

He supposed that was why he wanted to catch a dragon so badly, whether for revenge or justice; he just wanted some clarity, to feel better. He believed that if he caught one, it would solve all his problems, it would make the pain of losing his parents disappear. He had had the idea in his head ever since he was a kid, and it never truly left. Ever since, he had worked his ass off to find one, and for once, he was finally close. Despite everything everyone had told him about how impossible it was and that the creatures were extinct, he never listened. He knew they weren’t extinct, they couldn’t be. After all, his father was one—hell,  _Phil_ was one.

“Captain, the ship is ready,” PJ called, pulling Phil from his thoughts. “Are you?”

“Aye,” Phil took a deep breath and smirked. “Let’s go capture this damned beast.”

~

The trip to Nolst was longer than expected, especially with the rapidly dropping temperatures and rough seas, but after a little over a week, they finally arrived at the island off Norway's northern coast. Nolst was much larger than Glyra and filled with thick forests and small villages. It was a simple trading island, especially known for their sugarcane. Phil had never actually been to the island, but he’d heard about it. It was rumored to be a really peaceful place and the people were said to be very friendly.

“Captain, should we dock the ship?” Chris, one of the crewmembers and one of the more skilled swordsmen, asked.

“Actually, I want to bring the ship around to the north side of the island. The forests are thicker, the mountains are higher, the civilization is slimmer. If there is a dragon here, that’s where it would be,” Phil responded and Chris nodded.

Thus began their very short journey to the other end of the island. It only took about a half hour, but to Phil it felt like days. Throughout the entire trip to the island from Glyra to Nolst, each passing day felt like years to Phil. He had become so desperate and excited to find a dragon that time seemed to slow itself down just to mock him. And now that they were finally at Nolst, each passing second feeling like hours, it was driving Phil insane. If he didn’t find a dragon at Nolst, he might as well just give up all together, though he knew he wouldn’t; he would just continue selling supernatural creatures on the market until he caught wind of another rumor about dragons.

Phil internally groaned as the ship dragged through the water, slowly making its way towards the other side of the island. He leaned against the railing as he watched the forests begin to grow denser and the mountains get taller.

Eventually, after a great amount of minutes, they arrived at a cave that drilled into the side of the island in an almost-perfect cylinder. Phil, along with quite a few of his mates, found the cave to be very conspicuous and out-of-place. Phil’s heart leapt at the idea that it was a dragon’s den, and he wanted nothing more than to go and explore it.

Phil was about to command everyone to get the ship ready to dock on shore, but before he could say anything, a loud, reverberating roar ripped through the air. Phil felt as if his heart jumped ten feet in the air and his stomach flipped. He had read thousands of descriptions of what dragons sounded like, and there was no mistaking that what he just heard was the perfect example of one.

After  _years_ of dreaming of capturing a dragon, he felt like for once in his life he might actually have a chance, even though catching a dragon wasn’t easy, in theory or otherwise. They could fly and spit fire and they could grow as big as mountain tops. Though if Phil could manage to get the dragon in human form, things would become a thousand times simpler. However, even then it would be difficult to keep the dragon to stay in human form—for most people at least. Long ago, Phil had managed to get a hold of unique handcuffs that could keep any supernatural creature from shifting into an otherwise greater entity. Granted, not all the supernatural could shift into other things, but for the ones who could, the cuffs worked splendidly. Phil just hoped they worked on a creature as great as a dragon.

Another thunderous roar echoed through the air, only this time it was followed by the loud  _swoosh_ of wings. Suddenly, a beautiful, amber-colored dragon emerged from the cave, flying straight into the sky at incredible speeds before dive-bombing into the water right next to the ship. The ship swayed slightly from the massive waves that the dragon had caused. The massive creature surfaced and flew back up into the air; this time it hovered right above the ship and shook its wings causing water to spray all across the deck and getting everyone on it wet. Phil scowled at its actions for he knew the dragon did it on purpose.

The dragon then proceeded to circle the ship as if it were stalking its prey. Phil took this moment to appreciate the gracious beauty that the dragon held, with its amber scales and gorgeous golden-brown eyes shining brightly like the sun itself. It also had an air of boldness and pride about it, something that Phil would soon strip away from it. Dragons were known for their pride; they thought they were invincible and impossible to conquer. But their pride was the very thing that acted as their downfall. For the ones who believe that they are invincible are the same people who have no caution; and if someone isn’t cautious, they’ll eventually fall victim to those around them.

“Captain?” PJ suddenly muttered, breaking Phil from his chain of thoughts.

Phil suddenly realized that all the pirates around him were standing as still as a statue, awaiting orders from their captain. It dawned on him that  _this was it_ , after years and years of waiting he was finally about to capture a dragon. A huge rush of adrenaline flooded through him and he started to shouting out orders.

“Keep it distracted for a moment, I need to grab something from my cabin,” Phil commanded quickly.

There were only two ways to force a dragon to change into their human form: the first being to cause it immense pain (or drive it to near exhaustion). However, the amount of suffering someone would have to put it through to do so could possibly kill them, and Phil wasn’t about to kill the very thing he’d been chasing for years; not before he felt like his vengeance was fulfilled anyway. So that left him with option two which came in the form of an arrow. The arrow was filled with a type of liquid that (somewhat like the handcuffs) forced a supernatural creature to shift into their other form—whatever it may be. The liquid was extremely rare and Phil spent years trying to obtain it. He had to get a pureblood witch to make it for him—something he was not proud of—but it had been worth it.

The arrow was safely secured within Phil’s cabin and it had been sitting there for quite a few years, probably collecting a fair amount of dust. Phil was just happy that he finally had the chance to use it. The arrow itself was nothing special, but the liquid that resided in it was. When the arrow head hit a body, the liquid within it would flow out into the target’s bloodstream and successfully shift the desired target into its other form—in this case, a dragon into a human.

Throughout the years, Phil had gotten a lot of practice with a bow and arrow; for he couldn’t afford to fuck up this moment. He only had one arrow and if he missed he wouldn’t get a second chance, so he hoped all his training would pay off.

Phil was grabbing the arrow when he heard a loud growl rip through the air—followed by a bunch of yelling. He wasn’t sure how much longer his mates could hold up so he quickly readied the arrow onto the bow and rushed out of his cabin. Phil took a quick glance around his ship and noticed part of the deck was on fire (which a few people were frantically trying to put out) and there was a large tear through one of the sails. The dragon was flying just above the ship and nearly everyone was trying to fight it off, things were being thrown, cannons were being shot, and arrows were flying everywhere.

The dragon roared again as Phil began to make his way up onto the mast so he could get a clear shot of the massive beast. He had probably never moved faster in his life and although his speed was impressive, it also caused him to nearly slip and fall, but he ended up catching himself just in time. Once on the mast of the ship, he looked up at the dragon and silently cursed the sun for being so goddamn bright, for it was hard to tell what he was looking at, but he quickly gathered his bearings and tried not to let it affect him. However, the sun wasn’t the only problem, the dragon kept flying in circles and it was hard to follow its movements. But Phil would manage it, he had to. Not only did he have an entire ship full of people whose lives depended on it, but his own life did too. Not to mention how devastating it would be for him if he missed.

He took a deep breath and drew back the arrow. He hoped the arrow was tough enough to break through the skin of a dragon. It was specially crafted and supposedly able to break through bones as if a knife cutting through butter, so if it didn’t break through the simple scales of a dragon, then nothing could. But that didn’t stop Phil from having his doubts.

Phil took another rough breath before quickly aligning the arrow, he then followed the movement of the dragon before swiftly releasing the arrow into the sky.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the arrow flew through the sky. Phil could feel his heart thump against his chest and his breathing staggered. For a moment, Phil thought he had missed and a surge of fear ran through him, but he was quickly reassured when he heard a broken cry from the dragon. The arrow pierced its neck and the liquid quickly worked its magic. The dragon started to have trouble flying and was forced to land on the ship; its wings slowly shrunk down and its body began to take shape of a human. The creature still had its ( _his_ , Phil noted) wings, though they were much smaller, and there were small horns protruding from atop his head. The boy was naked, bloodied, and bruised and he couldn’t stand properly—though he certainly tried.

Phil rushed down to the deck and stood towering over the boy. Phil studied him for a moment and raked his eyes over the boy’s body. He wasn’t in the best of shape, not that Phil particularly cared, but there was something about him that made Phil drawn to him. He couldn’t quite place it into words, but it was almost like he wanted to protecthim rather than harm him. But Phil suppressed the feeling and tried to seem as intimidating as possible. Which wasn’t too hard, Phil was generally considered a scary person, but for some reason, the boy didn’t seem frightened and actually had the nerve to glare at him, which only caused Phil to clench his jaw. Phil didn’t necessarily consider himself an intimidating person, but everyone else did and he took much pride in that. So the fact that this lowly dragon-boy had the audacity to  _glare_ at him wasn’t exactly pleasing Phil.

However, before Phil could get too mad about it he realized that the dragon-boy wasn’t actually restrained, and the only reason he hadn’t flown off yet was because of his injuries. Phil quickly reached inside his coat pocket and grabbed the handcuffs that were resting inside. He took a step towards the boy which only caused the boy to scoot back and let out a quiet snarl. Phil took another step forward, and the boy scooted back again. This went on for a couple more steps before the boy’s back hit one of the masts. Phil stepped forward once more and kneeled down so he was the same height as the boy. The boy stared Phil in the eyes, trying his best not to show any fear, and spat in Phil’s face. Phil tensed for a moment and tried his best not to lash out. He calmly wiped the spit that landed on his face and gave the boy a dangerous glare.

“You do  _not_ want to get on my bad side,” Phil snarled. He roughly grabbed the boy’s wrists and swiftly put them into the cuffs, not even giving the boy a chance to realize what had happened.

“Hey, kid, what’s your name?” Phil heard Chris say from behind him which was quickly followed by PJ scolding him for speaking up when the captain was in such a bad mood, but Phil didn’t particularly care because he was actually curious as to what the dragon-boy’s name was.

“Why should I tell you?” The boy spat, directing his glare to Chris.

Chris shrugged, but Phil answered for him. “Answer him, or face the consequences.”

“Honestly, you’ve beaten me enough already, you think threatening me is going to get you anywhere?” The boy asked, but Phil wasn’t having it.

Phil gripped the throat of the boy and was a bit taken aback when he felt like he had been burned. But it wasn’t nearly enough pain to make him let go. “Answer him,” Phil spat out, stretching out the syllables. He knew that he couldn’t choke the boy to death because of his supernatural abilities, but he was hoping that it hurt enough to make him give in. And luckily for Phil, he did.

“Dan,” the boy breathed out and Phil held his throat for just a moment longer before letting him go. Dan let out uneven coughs but got ahold of himself rather quickly. He looked up at Phil, but instead of his usual glare, there was a hint of curiosity and confusion in his gaze, which unnerved Phil quite a bit.

Phil took a couple steps back from Dan and looked at him one last time. It was at this moment that it really sunk in; Phil had successfully caught a dragon. All those years of hard work and dedication had finally paid off, and for once in his life, Phil let himself be pleased with what he had accomplished. He let a soft smile grace his lips and let himself be happy—even if only for a moment. Eventually though, he had to pull himself back into reality. So he took one more look at Dan before walking off, giving some commands as he went.

“PJ,” Phil called.

“Captain?”

“Tie him up in the cells and assign someone to watch him,” Phil paused. “And for the love of God, get him some clothes.”

PJ let out a small chuckle. “Yes, Captain.”

~

A couple days had passed and after the initial excitement wore off, Phil actually started to feel a little bad. Not nearly enough to let the dragon-boy go, but enough to start to wonder why he ever captured him in the first place. It didn’t actually fix anything, and it honestly didn’t make him feel any better about himself. If anything, it made him feel worse. His parents were still dead, he was still half-dragon, and the people who were responsible for his parent’s death were still breathing. Phil began to think that maybe his obsession with catching a dragon wasn’t about revenge, but rather about his own feelings. When Phil’s parents died, he blamed his father because it  _was_ his fault. He hated his father and everything he was. But it was only  _after_  his parents died that he started to despise him. Before, when Phil was still a child and a part of a happy family, he used to embrace his dragon side and his father would teach him all kinds of cool tricks. Granted, he couldn’t do much because he was still half-human, but there was still stuff he could accomplish that normal humans couldn’t. He used to  _love_ it so much and would always marvel at his father whenever he turned into his full dragon form. It had amazed him. But then some people found out and killed his parents for it, and they had almost killed him too. Of course, they didn’t spare him because they took pity on a child, they didn’t spare him at all. Phil had barely survived that day and he was lucky to get out of it alive.

The point was, Phil didn’t want revenge, not really. If he wanted revenge he would’ve gone after the people that actually killed his parents. In reality, he just needed someone to blame, someone to take out his anger on. It was just unfortunate that it had to be Dan. Phil wasn’t sure why he felt so guilty to hurt the boy because it certainly wasn’t the first supernatural creature he had captured, hell, it was his job to do so. Though there was something about Dan that just made Phil want to coddle him rather than sell him, and he needed to find out why.

With that thought in mind, Phil headed down to the cells where Dan was chained up. Despite the large ship, the way down to the cells didn’t take but a moment. When Phil got into the cell room the first thing he noticed was that no one was guarding Dan.  _Didn’t he specifically ask PJ to assign someone to guard him?_ Phil took a few steps down the hallway and passed some of the empty cells before coming to Dan’s. He looked past the prison bars and was shocked when he saw Dan. He was huddled up against the corner of the cell and trembling, his lips were blue and he was extremely thin, too much to be normal. His wings were tucked around his body as if trying to act as a source of warmth, but it didn’t seem to be doing too much. Phil suddenly became acutely aware of the cold atmosphere and realized it was much,  _much_  colder in the prison cells than it was anywhere else on the ship. And it was winter no less.

Phil could feel himself tense, but that didn’t stop him from running to get the keys to the cell. It only took him a second and he was back in front of the cage in no time. He fumbled with the keys for a moment and almost dropped them, but eventually got the cell unlocked. He ran over to Dan and grabbed his wrist to check his pulse, and became very worried when he could barely feel it.

“PJ!” Phil yelled, probably loud enough for the whole ship to hear, but he didn’t care at the moment. After about a minute, he was about to yell again, but stopped whenever he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. PJ came into view and Phil scowled.

“When the hell was the last time this boy ate, let alone drank anything?” Phil asked angrily, trying to keep his emotions at bay.

PJ looked between Dan and Phil a few times before his eyes widen. “Shit,” he muttered.

“Probably a while,” PJ said hesitantly, guilt clear on his face.

“What do you mean a while? I told you to get someone to watch him!” Phil yelled, his face burning red in anger.

“A-and I meant to,” PJ stuttered. “After we put him down here I went to assign Chris to watch him, but whenever I went to see him we got a bit… distracted. I must’ve forgotten to tell him, but I  _swear_ I meant–”

“PJ, shut up and help him, damn it!” Phil cut him off. He would yell at PJ later about forgetting to assign someone to watch and take care of Dan, but right now he needed help.

“Wh-what do you want me to do?” PJ stuttered helplessly.

“Go get some food and water, and get some blankets while you’re at it,” Phil commanded. “And hurry up.”

PJ suddenly scurried away and left Dan and Phil alone again. Phil tried to calm himself down, but he couldn’t help but worry for Dan; he felt weirdly possessive over him. Phil shuffled closer to Dan and hugged him to his chest to try and provide as much warmth as he could. He was a bit surprised when Dan didn’t protest (he didn’t even flinch), but Phil wasn’t sure if it was because Dan physically couldn’t, or because he knew it was probably for the better. The position was a little awkward because of Dan’s wings, but Phil hoped it would help him warm up a bit.

“Dan?” Phil called softly, but Dan didn’t answer, though he did shudder in Phil’s hold. Phil just sighed, but didn’t push it any further.

After another minute or so, PJ came back with some food and water, and Chris was behind him carrying a couple blankets.

PJ walked into the cell first, quickly handing Phil the food and water in his hands. Phil grabbed the cup of water first and gently brought it up to Dan’s lips. When Dan didn’t part his lips, Phil nudged the cup against his lips as if in encouragement, but Dan just groaned in response.

“Damn it, Dan, I’m trying to help you,” Phil grumbled, annoyed.

Finally, yet reluctantly, Dan opened his mouth and allowed Phil to pour the water down his throat. Dan took uneven gulps, but at least he was drinking something. After Dan drank a fair amount, Phil put the cup down and grabbed some of the food that PJ had set beside him. It wasn’t anything fancy, just some rice (most likely with little flavor), but Phil hoped it would suffice.

“Eat this,” Phil said, pushing the wooden bowl over to Dan. Dan barely managed to grab it before Phil let go, but once he did get ahold of it he held it steady in his hands. Dan cautiously began to eat the rice while Phil went to grab the blankets from Chris.

Chris handed Phil the blankets when he walked over, but he didn’t utter a word because he was pretty sure Phil wasn’t especially happy with him. Not that it was Chris’ fault that Dan nearly starved to death; PJ was the one who forgot to tell him to look after Dan.

Phil walked back over to Dan and noticed that he had eaten nearly half the rice in the span of a few seconds.

“Woah, mate, slow down, you’re gonna make yourself sick,” Phil heard Chris speak up from behind him, which only caused Phil to turn around and glare at him, despite the fact that Phil knew he was right.

Dan simply scoffed at Chris’ comment and continued eating at the same pace he had been; so much for being cautious about eating.

Phil crouched down in front of Dan and began to place the blankets around his shaking form. After he placed a blanket across Dan’s lap, he began to wrap some around Dan wings and nearly jumped when Dan spoke up.

“My wings,” he mumbled quietly.

Phil gave him a confused look. “What?”

“I don’t like it when my wings are covered,” Dan answered more confidently than before.

“Oh,” Phil muttered dumbly in answer. He dropped the blanket that he had been wrapping around Dan and placed it beside him instead. “I’ll just leave this here then.”

Phil let his gaze wander over Dan for a moment. Seeing Dan reminded Phil of his father, they looked nothing alike, but just seeing a dragon (especially one in human form) made him feel very nostalgic. And for a moment, he couldn’t help but miss his father and all the things he had taught him. Phil had hated his father for so long that he nearly forgot what it was like to love him.

“Why are you smiling at me like that?” Dan asked. “It’s creepy.”

Phil was suddenly aware of the soft smile that had graced his lips and did his best to turn it back into a scowl. He quickly remembered where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. Having Dan almost die scared him and he had a moment of vulnerability, but now that he knew Dan was alright, he had to jump back into reality and remember his objective.

“Alright,” Phil’s voice suddenly boomed. “Now that you seem to be getting better, I’ll have Chris watch you and make sure to keep you healthy. If you need anything, ask him, but don’t expect too much from him. And just because I was kind to you today  _does not_ mean that I will be in the future. You  _are_ a prisoner here and you’ll do well to remember it, got it?”

Dan smirked as he set down the now empty wooden bowl. “We both know that if I truly wanted something, you’d give it to me. You may act tough,  _Captain,_ but we both know how soft you really are. Today proved that.”

Phil grabbed Dan by the throat, the familiar burning sensation that he had felt the other day biting at his palm. “Do  _not_ underestimate me,” Phil hissed through clenched teeth.

Dan’s smirk didn’t falter and instead of trying to escape Phil’s hold, he leaned forward so his nose was nearly touching Phil’s. “I wouldn’t dare,” Dan whispered. “After all, it’d be dumb to get into a fight with one of my own kind.” After those words left Dan’s mouth, Phil jumped back a few feet and almost stumbled onto the ground. His eyes were wide as he stared at Dan.

“How-wha-” Phil spluttered stupidly. How could Dan possibly know his secret? No oneknew about that, yet, somehow, Dan had figured it out.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Dan asked louder this time, and Phil hoped he wouldn’t say anything to anyone; it would get him killed. “I sensed it on you when we first met, it was part of the reason why I actually attacked your ship; I was curious. It’s weird though, you’re still part–”

“Shut up!” Phil yelled. Suddenly very afraid about what Dan could do with all that information.

Dan raised his eyebrows. “Relax, I won’t tell anyone. But just know that you’re no longer the one holding all the cards.”

“So what? Do you want to be let go? Because there’s no way that’s happening,” Phil said. If he had to, he’d simply gag Dan, but deep down he knew that that wouldn’t actually work and it would probably just piss Dan off. Phil figured that just complying to the dragon’s wishes would be best.

Dan pretended to ponder a moment before answering. “No, I’ll play prisoner for now. I like the idea of you scrambling around this ship, constantly worrying about whether I’ve told someone your secret.”

Phil growled, but stiffly nodded his head. He knew it was beyond stupid to trust Dan, but he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Great!” Dan exclaimed happily. “Pleasure doing buisness with you.”

“Likewise,” Phil muttered through clenched teeth.

“I’m not exactly sure what just happened, but it was exciting.” Chris suddenly cheered from behind him.

 _Shit._ Phil almost forgot Chris and PJ were still here, and they heard  _everything._ Phil turned around and came face-to-face with his two longtime friends and crewmates. Chris was smiling happily, not at all worried about what just happened, and PJ was looking at Phil with concern.

“Phil,” PJ addressed, it had been a while since PJ had called him by his first name. “Whatever just happened, neither of us care. We don’t care if Dan’s got the upper-hand on you, for whatever reason that may be, we’re loyal to you. And whatever this  _secret_ of yours is, we won’t ask because you’re not only our captain, but our friend as well. And if Dan does talk, we won’t judge you for whatever it is,  _we won’t abandon you_.”

Phil smiled sadly at them, he was grateful to the both of them, but despite what PJ said, he wasn’t so sure he’d still mean it if he found out that he was part dragon. For now, however, he just had to trust that Dan would keep his word, and that if everything  _did_ go to hell, that PJ would keep his.

“Thanks,” Phil said.

A moment of awkward silence rang through the air after that, and nobody moved, even Dan stayed quiet, but only for a minute. Eventually though, the silence became deafening and Dan decided to break it. “Okay then, glad you rekindled your friendship that never really went out in the first place, but can we get on with the inevitable pain you’re gonna inflict on me? Because I’m rather bored.”

Phil sent a glare toward Dan. “We don’t want to abuse you, Dan, we’re just keeping you here until we reach our destination, and then you’ll be sold to the highest bidder.”

“And what exactly do you think my buyer is going to do to me? Coddle me?” Dan scoffed sarcastically.

“That’s not my concern,” Phil said, his jaw visibly clenched.

Dan laughed. “Isn’t it?”

Phil had to keep himself from lashing out and hitting Dan, he  _knew_ Dan was trying to provoke him, and the worst part was that it was working. Instead of acting on his anger though, Phil simply growled at Chris to watch Dan before Phil—rather angrily—left the cell.

~

Another couple of days passed by, and Phil was sitting in his cabin, thinking. He had plenty of time to calm down, but this time he didn’t regret anything he said or did to Dan, not really. Dan’s behavior confused Phil to no end, he was so frustrating to deal with and Phil both hated and loved it. Yet what confused him more than anything was how Dan found out about Phil’s secret; even more importantly, why hadn’t Dan told anyone about it? Dan could very easily bargain his freedom, yet he didn’t even try. Phil was grateful that Dan hadn’t tried, but also very on edge. What if he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to tell everyone? Or perhaps he was waiting until they got to shore to tell everyone there. Glyra  _was_ a very popular place and rumors there spread like wildfire. Or maybe he truly just wanted to see Phil paranoid, and if so, then it was clearly working.

However, it would only take a day or two more until they arrived; and even though Phil wanted this whole nightmare to be over, deep down he never wanted it to end. He was very conflicted. Part of him wanted to just sell Dan and never think of him again, but the other part wanted to keep him by his side and learn everything he could about him. He wanted to know if Dan was truly the last dragon alive, and if not, where had all the other one’s gone? He wanted to know about all of Dan’s abilities, the things that Phil’s father never got to tell him about. He wanted to know Dan’s past and how long he had been living in Nolst. He wanted to know if the rumor about dragon-tears were true. But most of all, he wanted to know Dan’s interests and hopes. What would he be doing with his life if he wasn’t a dragon? Would he be sailing the seas like Phil? Would he be a farmer surrounded by animals and fields? Or perhaps he would be a lawyer and protect the innocent?

Phil wasn’t sure  _why_ he cared so much about Dan and his life, he simply felt drawn to him. Yes, Dan was beyond annoying and it was extremely hard for Phil to keep his temper when he was around him, but something about him was just so alluring; enchanting even. Something about him captivated Phil in a way that no one else ever has. Phil probably couldn’t explain it even if he tried, all he knew was that the feeling pissed him off in the best way possible.

Suddenly, a loud crash sounded outside of Phil’s cabin. He jolted upright, which caused him to nearly fall off his bed, but once he gathered his balance, he grabbed his sword from against the wall and walked towards his cabin door. He took a deep breath before slowly opening the door. At first, he couldn’t see much due to the night sky darkening his sight, but after a few seconds, his eyes adjusted to the dark sky and he began to walk toward the general direction of where he heard the crash. As he was walking, he heard a lighthearted giggle coming from his left and he jerked his head towards the direction of the sound. His eyes widened when he saw the beautiful fire-colored wings that belonged to the ever-so-charming Dan.

“Dan?!” Phil nearly screamed out in surprise.  _What the hell was he doing out of his cell?_

Dan turned around so fast that his wings managed to knock down a few wooden boxes behind him. “Phil!” Dan exclaimed happily, too happily. “I was looking for you,” he grinned and let out another soft giggle.

“How did you get out?” Phil asked angrily. “And where the hell is Chris?”

“I don’t know,” Dan shrugged, and then smiled. “I think he-e passed out.”

Phil’s eyes suddenly widened in realisation. “Are you drunk?” he asked in disbelief. How on earth did Dan get ahold of alcohol?

Dan raised his hand and held it there as if he were about to make a long and inspirational speech, but instead of a speech, he simply giggled and nodded dumbly, letting his hand fall back down to his side.

Phil let out an exasperated sigh; he really didn’t want to deal with this right now. He was beyond pissed at Chris, silently cursing Dan for even taking a drink in the first place, but above all, he was mostly just relieved that Dan hadn’t tried to escape.

“Alright,” Phil grumbled. “Let’s get you back to your cell.”

“But it’s so cold down there,” Dan whined. “And really dirty.”

“What do you want me to do about it?” Phil asked snappishly, his tone angry and annoyed. In truth though, Phil was actually kind of enjoying Dan act so childish. It was oddly cute, a bit annoying, sure, but still cute. It made him seem less threatening and more… human.

Phil paused his thinking for a moment.

 _What the hell?_ Dan acting human wasn’t a good thing, it wasn’t even remotely okay. Phil wasn’t supposed to find Dan cute or humanlike. He was a dragon for God’s sake—a beast from the very depths of hell itself. And if Phil had to literally beat that thought into his own head, then he would. Dan was a creature that lacked any type of emotion or feeling, nothing about him was human.  _Nothing_.

“Let me sleep with you.” Dan stated confidently, fixing his posture slightly as he spoke.

Phil nearly choked. “W-what?” He spluttered.

Dan laughed, sobering up just enough to sound sensible, yet still very drunk. “Not like that, idiot.”

“Oh,” Phil muttered, a bit dumbly.

“You sound so disappointed,” Dan giggled.

“I’m not,” Phil growled. “And no, you’re not sleeping in my cabin with me. You’re going back to your cell, and this time, you’re gonna stay there.”

“Oh come on, Phil,” Dan grumbled. “I promise not to escape,” he tried to bribe.

Phil contemplated his options. On one hand, he could bring Dan back to his cell to sleep on the cold, concrete ground. Or, Phil could keep him safe and happy in his own bed, curled up beside him.  _Gah, this boy was messing with Phil’s head more than he’d like to admit._

The only risk was having him leave.

Phil rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he agreed. “But if I find you gone in the morning, I  _will_ hunt you down, and the next time around I won’t be so easy on you.”

“Fine by me,” Dan smiled.

“Follow me,” Phil grumbled, taking Dan’s hand to guide him to his cabin; he was surprised when he didn’t feel burnt by the touch like he normally did whenever he touched Dan.

“I burn people when I feel threatened,” Dan slurred, his sentence short and choppy, and it only managed to confuse Phil further. Phil wasn’t aware that that was something dragons could do, but instead of asking any further questions, he simply nodded and continued walking to his cabin. Besides, Phil wasn’t really sure Dan could fully answer any questions with the state he was in, and Phil was afraid to ask because he felt like the more things Dan answered, the more questions Phil would end up having. So he stayed quiet—for now at least.

The walk to Phil’s cabin was short, and as soon as they arrived, Dan ran straight for the bed and flopped himself down face first.

“Soft,” Dan said, his voice muffled from the covers. “I haven’t slept in a bed in forever.”

Phil raised his eyebrows. “It couldn’t have been that long.”

Dan looked up at Phil and shrugged. “A couple years, maybe.”

“ _Years?!_ ” Phil exclaimed, his voice coming out a lot higher pitched than normal.

Dan hummed in response, but didn’t give any further explanation. Dan lifted the blanket off the bed and draped it over himself, cuddling up against it as if his life depended on it.

“Hey!” Phil chuckled. “You can’t take all the blankets, how do you expect me to keep warm?” He questioned, but his tone was lighthearted.

“Dunno,” Dan mumbled, closing his eyes. “That’s your problem.” He pulled the blanket up towards his chin and began to slowly sink down further into the comforts of the mattress.

Phil was about to complain, but Dan looked so comfortable and content that Phil couldn’t bring himself to destroy the peace he seemed to surround himself in. Phil simply sighed and went to grab the thinner (and much scratcher) blanket that was laying in a box across the room. He curled up next to Dan on the bed, nearly falling off of it because of the lack of space Dan had left on either side of the bed.

It was odd, being next to a dragon again. The last time he was voluntarily near a dragon that wasn’t chained or bound was when he was with his father so many years ago. Phil never thought he would willingly stay next to an unbound dragon ever again. It went against everything he had taught himself in the last decade, but for some reason, he was perfectly content with it.

And that feeling of content scared him more than anything.

~

Phil woke up at dawn, the sun was just beginning to rise and the seas were calm. Dan was beside him, still sound asleep and Phil sighed in relief when he realized Dan didn’t leave.  _He kept his promise_ —he kept all the blankets too. Phil smiled softly at Dan’s sleeping form; he seemed so peaceful and happy while he was asleep. It was kind of weird seeing him so unthreatening and… vulnerable.

“Quit staring at me,” Dan suddenly grumbled from beneath the covers.

“I’ll do whatever I please,” Phil replied snarkily.

“You’ve proved that  _plenty._ ” Dan laughed bitterly. He sat up in the bed and let the blanket pile up at his crossed legs.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Phil asked, his tone offended.

Dan shook his head. “Nothing in particular.”

“Whatever,” Phil scoffed.

A pause.

“Hey, Dan?” Phil asked warily.

Dan raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you try to escape?”

“Because I made a promise,” Dan answered.

Phil huffed out a breath. “That’s a stupid reason, surely there’s something else keeping you here.” Phil said, though it came out as more of a question.

“You’d be right,” Dan hummed in thought. “Honestly, Phil. I was bored. I could’ve left the minute you captured me, and I think you know that, but I stayed because I really didn’t have anything to go back to. My life was boring before you came along. I’ve done the same consecutive thing every day for as long as I remember; all I’ve ever done is survive, but I want to try living.”

“So you thought hitching a ride on a ship full of pirates that want nothing more from you than a wealthy profit would be a good attempt at living?” Phil asked sarcastically.

“Of course not,” Dan said. “I just–I saw an opportunity to do something other than survive and I took it, and if I died in the process, then so be it.”

“So you threw away years of survival for possible death and almost guaranteed slavery?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” Dan answered.

“You’re insane,” Phil grumbled.

“Maybe so,” Dan agreed. “But there was one other thing that made me want to leave.”

“And what would that be?”

“You,” Dan smirked.

Phil’s heart skipped a beat. “Me?” He questioned, trying not to let his voice waver.

“Yeah,” Dan said. “I had never seen a half-human dragon before you, never even heard of such a thing. So, I guess, you intrigued me.”

“I’m glad I could lure you into captivity with my charm,” Phil smiled, but it quickly faltered when he remembered something. “Actually, how  _did_ you know about that?”

“All dragons can sense when they’re near another one of their kind–well, I’d assume so anyway, I’ve never actually met another dragon before,” Dan said sadly.

Phil tilted his head in question. “What about your parents?”

Dan shrugged. “I never met them.”

“Oh,” Phil said stupidly. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I can’t really miss someone I never knew.”

Phil nodded. He wished he could sympathise with Dan, but he really couldn’t. Sure, his childhood was fucked up too, but not quite in the same way. At least Phil had  _had_ parents at some point to love and care for, Dan never had anyone.

“Dan,” Phil started carefully. “You know this doesn’t change anything, I’m still going to sell you—we’re actually pretty close to our destination by now,” In truth, Phil didn’t really  _want_ to sell Dan, but if not sell him, he wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to do with him. Besides, Dan was strong, stronger than a lot of people, he would be able to escape captivity. It was better to just sell Dan and go on with life. Phil would get some good money from him, and Dan would escape and be back to safety in no time. At least, that’s what Phil kept telling himself.

“I know,” Dan muttered. “Besides, you’ve got a reputation to keep,” he chuckled dryly.

“Yeah.” Phil smiled sadly. “You know that means I’m gonna have to take you back to your cell; it’s not good for my crewmates to know that the oh-so-powerful dragon has been running around the ship freely,” he added.

“Right,” Dan said, his voice monotone. “You’ve got to scold Chris about letting me go anyway,” Dan smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes.

God, why did keeping Dan safe and happy matter so much to Phil? He was a dragon, damn it. A  _supernatural_ creature; he wasn’t meant to be befriended.

“Let’s go,” Phil said simply, grabbing Dan’s wrist and dragging him towards the door of the cabin.

“Damn, Phil, you don’t have to be so rough,” Dan chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, but Phil didn’t laugh in response; he didn’t even smile. Phil was trying to block anything good about Dan out of his mind, he was trying his best to just focus on the fact that he wasn’t human.

They left Phil’s cabin and made their way back to the cell. When they got there, Chris was pacing back and forth and Phil could  _see_ the relief flood over his face whenever he saw Dan. He was probably just thankful that he hadn’t escaped.

“Phil, I am  _so_ sorry, I–” Chris started babbling, but Phil put his hand up to stop him.

“Leave,” Phil snapped. “I’ll deal with you later.”

Chris scurried off, leaving Dan and Phil in the cold, dark room alone. If Chris had just kept Dan chained up, Phil wouldn’t have come to the revelation that Dan was a good person, and he certainly wouldn’t be second guessing whether he should sell Dan or not.

Phil guided Dan back to the corner of the cell and started chaining him back up, starting with the handcuffs that prevented him from shifting. Phil was trying his damned hardest not to just unlock everything and tell Dan he could leave for good. Why did he have to get so attached?

“I guess everything’s back to normal then, huh?” Dan questioned once Phil was done.

Phil took a step back from Dan. “Yeah, I suppose it is.”

Phil walked outside the cell and turned to lock the old, rusted lock on the bars, but before he did, he asked the one thing that had been eating away at him ever since he found out about the stupid rumor. “Hey, Dan?”

“Yeah?”

“Is it true that dragon’s tears can heal almost any wound?” Phil questioned with genuine curiosity.

“I wouldn’t know,” Dan shrugged. “I’ve never actually had the chance to find out.”

~

“Shut up,” Phil groaned after being awoken by an incessant knocking on his cabin door. He sank himself deeper into his blanket and pulled his—not so soft—pillow around his ears. His bed felt oddly empty and cold, and he wasn’t exactly sure why. He originally thought it was because Dan wasn’t there, but he quickly shook that thought out of his mind because it was unrealistic. Why would he miss Dan when he literally only stayed in Phil’s bed  _once_?

“Captain!” the voice (which Phil recognized as PJ) came again and the knocking became more persistent.

Phil sighed. “What?” He grumbled.

“Uh-we’ve reached land,” PJ said.

Phil shot up from his bed and nearly ended up falling out of it. “Already?” Phil asked surprised, his voice somewhat gravelly from sleep. Phil didn’t think that they would reach land so soon, he thought they had at least another day's worth of sailing. But clearly his calculations were off… by quite a bit.

“Yeah,” PJ answered. “Honestly, I was surprised too.”

“Are you  _sure_ that we’re on Glyra?” Phil asked, albeit sarcastically, he knew there wasn’t really any other island they could be on, Glyra was a very secluded place and the nearest island to it was almost a two day journey.

“Aye, Captain.”

Phil hummed in response but didn’t offer any further comment. Phil was hoping that it would’ve taken another day or two to arrive. Truthfully, he was kind of dreading telling a whole bunch of people that he had successfully captured a dragon. He was especially  _not_  looking forward to the response he would get. Everyone would most likely jump at the chance to be the one to buy Dan, and Phil wouldn’t be surprised if some people tried to steal him. For now, however, Phil would have to keep Dan hidden from as many people as possible until he could get the auction set up. He’d have to tell a few people, sure, but hopefully he could avoid anyone that would go spreading the  _exciting_ news.

The only good thing about this was that Phil could tell everyone  _‘I told you so’._ Everyone used to mock him for wanting to capture the apparently extinct creature, they always told him that it was impossible, that he should just stick to the creatures that for-sure existed, he was glad he’d finally get the chance to prove them wrong.

Phil sighed and pushed himself off his bed. He needed to get things ready before they set foot on land. He especially needed to brief Dan on what was going to happen, he couldn’t risk him fucking this whole thing up. With that thought in mind, Phil threw on a shirt and made his way down to Dan’s cell.

“Dan,” he called when he approached the cell.

Dan hummed in response. “What’s up?” He asked, somehow seeming completely unfazed by his situation; how he did it, Phil could only wonder.

“We’ve landed on Glyra,” Phil said simply.

“Huh,” Dan said curiously. “So that’s where we were headed all this time.”

Phil scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. “You hadn’t guessed that already? It’s the most significant black market in the world.”

“In case  _you_ hadn’t guessed already, I didn’t particularly get out much before you ‘captured’ me,” Dan snarled in defense, making quotation marks with his fingers around  _captured_.

“Aww, how sweet. It’s so nice to know that I’m responsible for helping you get out and see the world,” Phil smirked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Though Phil did wonder why Dan hadn’t tried to escape yet, he said that he easily could’ve, but for whatever reason he hadn’t even tried. Perhaps he was only bluffing, though Phil highly doubted that.

“Yeah, right,” Dan rolled his eyes. “Anyway, was there something you wanted from me?”

“Yes, actually,” Phil said. “I came to tell you how all of this is going to work.”

“Oh,” Dan muttered.

“Unless, of course, you plan to escape between now and the auction,” Phil raised his eyebrows. “Because if that’s the case then there’s no reason for me to even try and sell you.”

“You almost sound like you don’t  _want_ to sell me,” Dan chuckled. “But if you must know; I’ll cooperate.”

Phil gave him a funny look. “I can’t imagine  _why_ , but whatever you say.” Phil almost wished he had told him the opposite, and it was an odd feeling. It was rather ironic, too: hoping that the very creature he had been trying to capture for years would escape.

Dan shrugged. “I’ve taken a liking to you, Phil. I might as well let you collect that large profit you’ll surely get from selling me. Besides, I’ll easily be able to escape from whichever dickhead decides to buy me.”

“Alright,” Phil started. “Well, to put it simply, I’m trying to keep you a secret from as many people as I can at the moment—we wouldn’t want anyone to try and steal you. At the moment, I have to go talk to Mr. Thompson and have him set up the auction. You, however, don’t have to do much except stay here until the day of the auction.” Phil concluded.

“Seriously?” Dan’s shoulders slumped in disapproval. “You’re honestly gonna make me stay here? Come on, Phil. I’ve been here for for _ever,_ surely you can let me out; let me get some fresh air, maybe?”

“What else do you expect me to do?” Phil asked. “Need I remind you that you  _are_ a prisoner here, not a crewmember,” Despite his words, Phil couldn’t even get himself to believe them. He had let Dan roam free on the ship once before, he even let Dan spend the night in his own cabin. And, while, yes, Dan was a prisoner, he wasn’t like any other prisoner Phil has had on his ship before. Dan was different, Phil… Phil trusted Dan; in a weird and peculiar way, but he did trust him.

Dan gave Phil a look of disbelief but didn’t offer any further comment. Instead, he sat silently, patiently waiting for Phil to retract his statement, for Dan knew he would.

“Argh, fine.” Phil nearly whined. “But only when I get back from meeting with Mr. Thompson. In the meantime, you’re staying here, and that’s final.”

Dan smirked. “It’s honestly so easy to make you do what I want.”

Phil glared at Dan, but decided not to say anymore on the subject. It was probably wiser to stay silent, besides, Dan was way too good at comebacks to try and argue with him.

“Is there anything else you need before I go?” Phil asked, trying to sound as indifferent as he could.

“Nope,” Dan smiled. “Be safe out there.”

Phil rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Always am.”

Phil made his way back up the stairs of the cell and headed back towards his cabin. He needed to grab a few things before heading out to meet Mr. Thompson (the bastard). Once in his cabin, he grabbed a couple of weapons, including his sword and a couple of daggers (just in case). Glyra wasn’t a safe place, not even for Phil.

After he grabbed his weapons, he made his way off the ship. Nothing was properly set up to smoothly get off the ship, but Phil had managed.

To Phil’s surprise, Mr. Thompson was waiting for him on land; a bit odd, considering he had never done so before.

“Mr. Thompson,” Phil greeted, confusion tinting his voice.

“Good morning, Captain Lester,” the man answered.

“What are you doing at the docks?” Phil asked, getting straight to the point.

“Ah-well, you’re never back so early, so when I heard that you had arrived back on Glyra, I just had to see what brought you back.” Mr. Thompson explained, looking carefully past Phil to try and see if there was anything unique onboard his ship, and his shoulders slumped when he couldn’t see anything.

“Well, I certainly brought  _something_.” Phil smirked, stepping in front of Mr. Thompson’s wandering gaze.

“Oh?” He questioned curiously. “May I know what this something is?”

“A dragon,” Phil said simply, his heart skipping a beat or two. The news was finally out in the open, it was there for anyone to take and do what they wanted with it.

Mr. Thompson looked at Phil in disbelief and shock. “A-a dragon?” He stuttered, looking at Phil as if he were insane.

“Aye,” Phil answered. “Turns out they're not as extinct as everyone thought.”

“But-that’s impossible,” Mr. Thompson claimed, yet somewhat warming up to the idea.

“Fortunately not,” Phil said. “And whether you choose to believe me or not is up to you, but hopefully you will because I wanted you to set up an auction for the creature as soon as possible,” Phil paused, smirking. “Of course, if you don’t believe me I can always get someone else to help me auction it off.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Mr. Thompson let out a nervous laugh, clearly not wanting to miss the opportunity to be able to help sell a dragon. “May I see the beast?”

“I’d rather you not,” Phil said, grinding his teeth together, for whatever reason the thought of having Mr. Thompson near Dan pissed Phil off. “I think it’d be better if you waited for the big reveal like everyone else,” Phil explained, trying not to sound too possessive.

“Right, of course,” Mr. Thompson said, trying and failing to cover up his disappointed tone.

“Well, I better leave you to it, you’ve got a lot to do,” Phil said, forcing a smile.

“Of course, I’ll get on that right away,” Mr. Thompson declared and quickly scurried back to his auction house, Phil almost laughed; Mr. Thompson wasn’t kidding when he said  _right away_.

Phil nearly sighed in relief when he left, he did  _not_ like that man, the dumbass was always trying so hard to impress Phil and it was beyond annoying.

Considering that Phil didn’t have a bunch of creatures to sell this time around, he didn’t have much to actually do on the island. Which made him somewhat antsy; he hated land enough as it was, but having to stay on an island with nothing to occupy his time just made him restless and agitated. Phil let out an annoyed huff as he made his way back to the ship, silently cursing at himself for not bringing back more creatures to sell.

Phil hopped back up onto the ship and worked his way towards his cabin, considering that he’s got nothing to do, he might as well sleep. After all, the upcoming auction was  _not_ going to be fun, there was going to be a lot of yelling and aggression; Phil wouldn’t be surprised if people started up a fight.

As Phil approached his cabin door, he noticed that it was cracked open just slightly—which was certainly discomforting because Phil  _never_ left his door open. He slowed his walking and lightened his steps to lessen any noise, then carefully pulled his sword from his scabbard and lightly kicked the door so it would open wider. At first, he didn’t see anyone so he slowly, and as quietly as he could, made his way into the room. The room was dark and seemingly undisturbed, but as Phil’s eyes scanned over everything in the chamber, he noticed a figure in the far right corner.

Phil narrowed his eyes at the figure and quickly made his way towards it; never letting his eyes waver from it. As soon as he was close enough, he shoved the figure against the wall and pressed the blade of his sword against the person’s neck, possibly and probably drawing blood.

“Ow,” the figure, which Phil now recognized as Dan, said with mock hurt.

“Dan?! What the hell?” Phil exclaimed, though he didn’t let up on the pressure of the blade. “What the–how the fuck did you get out?”

“You should know that those cuffs you put on me take away the ability for me to shift, they do not, however, take away my powers,” Dan explained, a smirk clear on his face. He leaned toward Phil which only caused the blade to push further into his neck, but he didn’t seem particularly concerned. “And for future reference, you should seriously invest in some fireproof handcuffs.”

“Y–you melted them?” Phil asked furiously, but all he got in answer was an extremely smug looking Dan. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to get ahold of those?”

“Nope,” Dan smiled, popping the  _p._ “But I was getting  _awfully_ bored and I wanted some company and I couldn’t be bothered to wait until you came back, so I just came to you instead.”

“I thought you had agreed to wait,” Phil growled, though he removed his sword from Dan’s throat, nearly winching when he saw the mark left behind.

“Aye, I did. I agreed to wait until you got back from your meeting with Mr. Thompson. And guess what, Phil: you’re back.”

Phil  _hated_ that Dan was right. That had been the deal that they had made, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it. “That doesn’t give you the right to just  _leave._ ” Phil argued, though for some reason he knew he wasn’t going to win this argument.

“Yes it does,” Dan said smugly, not even trying to explain himself.

“I-you-just shut up,” Phil stated lamely. “And you owe me new handcuffs.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“Also, don’t you dare shift at the auction. It would ruin my reputation if a creature I captured caused havoc because they weren’t restrained properly.” Phil said sternly.

“I promise I won’t shift, on the one condition that you promise you won’t chain me up again until the auction.”

“Deal.”

The rest of the day dragged on quite slowly after that, Dan stayed holed up in Phil’s cabin while Phil was off attending to his ship—which Dan ever so blithely dubbed “ship-ly duties”. For whatever reason, Dan found the term absolutely hilarious and he ended up in a fit of hysterical laughter, which Phil tried (and failed) to get him out of. However, other than Dan’s giggly spasm, the day went on quite normally; at least as normal as it could’ve with a dragon roaming freely on the ship.

Night was quickly falling and Phil was getting extremely nervous. It was odd for him to feel so anxious, especially for a simple auction, he had been selling supernatural creatures since he was a teenager, he shouldn’t be feeling so uneasy. But for whatever reason, it was different this time, and it wasn’t because he was selling a dragon. It was because of something else, but Phil couldn’t quite place it.

“Phil!” Phil swung his head around towards the direction of the voice. He immediately saw Finn standing on land, waving happily as he ran towards the ship. As Finn made his way closer to the ship, Phil threw a rope down so Finn could get onto the ship. Finn swiftly climbed his way up the swaying rope and jumped onto the ship.

“Good evening, Finn,” Phil greeted politely. “How are you?”

“I’m excellent, Cap’n. How about you?” Finn grinned. “I assume you’re also doing  _extremely_ well considering a certain possession that you have recently acquired.”

Phil raised his eyebrows. “So you heard?”

“Aye!” Finn exclaimed. “Actually, that’s why I’m here. Mr. Thompson sent me to tell you that he’s got the auction ready to go… and he told you to hurry because there are a  _lot_ of impatient people waiting for the promised  _treasure_.”

“I’d assume as much,” Phil chuckled, albeit uneasily. “People these days don’t have much patience.”

“No offence, Cap’n, but you’re not the most patient of people either.” Finn explained.

“Fair point,” Phil agreed. “However, I should hurry with getting everything together, we wouldn’t want to keep a bunch of filthy hooligans waiting.” Phil said as he began to walk towards his cabin where Dan was staying. However, Finn started following him which would be fine if it wasn’t for the fact that Dan was laying in Phil’s bed unchained and completely free to walk around as he wished. As much as Phil trusted Finn, he didn’t feel like explaining why the  _dragon_ prisoner was completely free of shackles.

Phil cleared his throat pointedly, turning around to face Finn. “Was there something else you needed, Finn?” Phil asked, as politely as he could muster. Despite the fact that Phil did not want him there at that exact moment, he didn’t hate him.

“Oh, well, I thought that I could see a sneak-peek of the creature?” Finn questioned hopefully.

“You can wait and see the creature at the auction just like everyone else,” Phil answered, sternly.

“But, Phil,” Finn gave a whine. “I was the reason you found it, surely that warrants me some kind of free pass to see it before everyone else.”

“I’m sorry, Finn,” Phil apologized. “However, you’re technically not wrong so I promise to give you some of the earnings that I get from selling him.”

“ _Him_?” Finn questioned.

_Shit._

Phil never called the creatures he found by anything other than  _it._ And while Phil knew that Finn wouldn’t judge him for it, Phil was still worried about what Finn would take from that.

“Yes,” Phil stated with fake confidence. “Is that a problem?”

Finn gave Phil a hard stare before deciding that  _no, that wasn’t a problem._ Finn shook his head, but his eyes were still filled with confusion.

“Good,” Phil swallowed. “Then you best be going, and make sure to tell Mr. Thompson that I’ll be there soon.”

“Of course, Cap’n,” Finn smiled, rapidly switching back to his happy, bubbly personality.

“See you later, Finn.”

With that, Finn left and Phil continued making his way to his cabin. For a moment, Phil stood in front of the cabin door and took a deep breath, letting his head fall against the rough wood. He honestly had half a mind to just up and leave the island and take Dan back to where he found him, but he couldn’t. Phil was about to achieve his life goal, like hell he was about to stop now just because of some fucked up emotional attachments. Phil’s eyes widen and he swallowed thickly, what the fuck? Had he really managed to get emotionally attached to a bloody dragon?

Could that be what all of  _this_ was? Phil hadn’t been emotionally attached to someone since his parents. Sure, he had friends, but no one he  _truly_ cared about, surely he hadn’t become attached to Dan, not so quickly, not to such a beast. And yet, that was exactly what it felt like. All this time, Phil had been so petrified of losing Dan (despite Dan claiming he’d be fine) all because he had become  _attached_ to him. Phil hadn’t been afraid of losing someone in a long,  _long_ time. In fact, Phil wasn’t even sure if he had ever been afraid of losing someone. Before the deaths of his parents, he hadn’t known what it was like to lose someone, so he had never really worried about it. Then  _after_ his parents’ death, he became so scared of losing another person he loved that he just gave up on loving all together. Then Dan happened, and while he didn’t get attached  _right_ away, Phil had slowly found himself becoming  _attached_.

It scared him.

Phil’s cabin door suddenly opened and Phil nearly fell face first into his room, though he managed to catch himself just in time.

“What are you doing?” Dan asked. “You’ve been standing there for, like, five minutes.”

“I–no, I wasn’t,” Phil denied shakily.

Dan scrunched up his eyebrows. “Yeah, you were; I could hear your heartbeat.”

“I was just thinking,” Phil admitted.

“About…?” Dan pushed.

“Nothing.” Phil immediately scowled and avoided eye contact. “It doesn’t matter anyway, I came to get you for the auction, everything’s done being set up.”

“Oh,” Dan’s voice wavered, he sounded disappointed. Phil wanted to hug him and take everything he ever did to him back, but he couldn’t. Even though he had newfound  _emotions_  for Dan, it didn’t mean he was going to do anything about them. He couldn’t.

Phil cleared his throat. “Come on then, we don’t want to keep them waiting.” He tried to say it confidently, but he was afraid his lack of eye contact gave it away.

Dan scoffed. “Yeah, right, of course.”

“Oh come off it, Dan,” Phil snapped, leaning further towards Dan. “You knew this was how everything was going to play out, don’t act so surprised.”

“I thought things might have changed,” Dan mumbled dejectedly.

“Well you thought wrong,” Phil huffed angrily. “Now come on.” Phil grabbed Dan’s wrist roughly and started to drag him towards the exit ladder down to land.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Dan asked, ripping his hands from Phil’s grasp and shoved his bare wrists in front of Phil’s face.

“What?” Phil asked, frowning.

“Handcuffs, Phil,” Dan rolled his eyes. “I may have broke the effective ones, but that doesn’t mean you can just drag me in there without any… shackles.”

“Right, valid point, I’ll go grab some,” Phil answered. “And, uh–stay here,” Phil added as an afterthought.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” Dan said dryly. “We had a deal after all.”

Phil accepted that as a reasonable enough answer as he walked back to his cabin to grab some handcuffs. He grabbed the least rusty-looking pair, as several had begun to oxidate in their lack of use, and headed back to where Dan was, and to Phil’s surprise, he really hadn’t moved. Not even a muscle. For a second, Phil stood there, then: “I actually thought you would’ve bailed,” he mumbled.

“Really? I’ve been free to move around all day, what makes you think I’d leave now?” Dan asked, and his tone seemed genuinely curious.

“I don’t know,” Phil shrugged. “You’re out in the open with absolutely nobody around, why  _wouldn’t_ you leave?”

“Phil, I made a promise–”

“A dumb one,” Phil cut off, but his voice wasn’t hostile.

“It was still a promise, and I’d like to think that dragons are honorable creatures,” Dan explained. 

Phil chuckled wryly. “I think it’s just  _you_ who’s honorable, Dan, not your species.”

“Maybe,” Dan said and shrugged.

“Anyway, we should seriously get going,” Phil said as he walked towards Dan. “I’ve got money to make and you’ve got captivity to escape, so, we better head out.”

“Yeah,” Dan sighed as Phil clipped the handcuffs onto him. As soon as the cuffs were on Dan’s hand, Phil released his wrists, watching them fall against Dan’s side. Phil’s gaze slowly traveled up Dan’s body before he locked eyes with him.

Phil smiled gently. “I’m not gonna lie, dragon-boy, I think I’m going to miss you.”

It really wasn’t a lie, Phil was going to miss Dan a lot, and maybe, in some odd amount of years, they’d see each other again. Although Phil seriously doubted Dan would ever want to see him again, especially after everything Phil had done to him.

“Yeah, yeah–don’t go all soft on me now,” Dan said, but he smiled back.

“I would never,” Phil laughed; he couldn’t help but think that everything in that moment was absolutely perfect. Dan was by his side, with his bright, happy eyes and gorgeous smile. Even though it had only been a few weeks, they had somehow built a sort of odd yet unbreakable friendship. For once, no one was there to hurt them or try to destroy things, and Phil’s evasive thoughts weren’t trying to ruin everything. They were just there, Dan and Phil, the most unlikely of friends—and everything was  _perfect._ However, every good moment must end.

“We should probably get going, I don’t want to be late for my own party,” Dan joked lightly, though it wasn't particularly funny.

“Yeah, we really should, it’s getting rather dark,” Phil cleared his throat, looking away. “Come on.”

“Is no one else coming with us?” Dan asked as Phil grabbed onto his handcuffs, slowly dragging him towards the edge of the ship where the ladder was.

“I think they’ve all already left,” Phil said, though he wasn’t quite sure. However, with how quiet the ship was, Phil doubted that many people were still on it. Phil quickly guided Dan to the ladder and told him not to trip as he made his way down.

“You probably should have put the cuffs on  _after_ we made it safely off the ship,” Dan grumbled as he struggled to climb down the ladder with cuffed hands.

Phil gave a shrug. “Probably,” he stated simply, finding the situation more humorous than anything.

“You’re a terrible person,” Dan growled out, nearly missing a step on the ladder.

“I know,” Phil chuckled. “Now hurry your ass up, we don’t have all day.”

“Fuck off, it’s not as easy as it looks,” Dan grumbled as he finally reached the bottom.

“Obviously not because you’re certainly not making it  _look_ easy,” Phil said as he started to make it down the ladder, making his way off the ship  _much_ faster than Dan had.

“Was that really necessary?” Dan asked, clearly unamused.

Phil jumped off the last few steps of the ladder, making a flawless landing right in front of Dan.

“Yes, it was,” Phil said with a smirk. “Now come on.”

“Aye, Captain,” Dan chuckled, rolling his eyes as he followed Phil to the auction house.

The walk to the auction house probably only took ten or so minutes, but it felt like an eternity to Phil. Every step he took was agonizing, every movement he made felt like hell. With each passing moment the situation was getting more and more realistic. He was really going to do this, he was going to sell the one person that somehow, in such a short span of time, made his life better, and it was all for some petty thirst for revenge—a thirst that didn’t really even exist anymore. Yet still, even if Phil wanted to go back on selling Dan, there was no way he could. Not that he was a coward, but too many people knew about Dan now, about the dragon, and if Phil said that he wasn’t going to sell him anymore, it wouldn’t end well for anybody. No, it would end in a bloodbath, and a lot of innocent people would get hurt.

“Phil, cut it out,” Dan hissed.

Phil looked at Dan weirdly. “What am I doing?”

“You're really tense, and it’s making me tense–so cut it out,” Dan grumbled.

“Sorry,” Phil said, his cheeks flushing. “I’m… I'm just nervous.”

“You? Nervous? Haven’t you done this, like, a hundred times?” Dan asked with half a giggle, doing his best to contain his laughter. “Are you telling me that Captain Lester, the most feared pirate on the seven seas, is  _nervous_ for doing something that he’s done a million times before?”

“Shut up, it’s not funny,” Phil grumbled. Though for whatever reason, he kind of appreciated Dan’s teasing; it made him feel better and a lot less anxious. Somehow knowing that Dan wasn’t too concerned about being sold off at an auction to a bunch of hooligans helped calm Phil down. “Besides, I don’t have to worry about it  _quite_ yet, we still have a little ways to go before…” Phil trailed off when he realized that they were literally standing in front of the back entrance of the auction house. “Okay, nevermind, this is happening,” Phil turned to look at Dan. “Are you ready?”

Dan raised his eyebrows. “Are you?” His tone was soft, filled with genuine concern, and Phil abruptly felt angry at him.

“Of course,” Phil snapped in defense. “What the hell makes you think I’m not?”

“Right…” Dan muttered, his tone now skeptical, “Let’s go then.” Dan walked past Phil and reached for the handle on the door.

“Wait,” Phil said hastily.

Dan rolled his eyes and turned around. “What?”

“I just–I want you to know that whatever happens–”

“Don’t,” Dan quickly cut off. “Don’t even start. You don’t get to give an inspirational speech or apologize or say whatever other bullshit that you were going to. We both knew this was going to happen from the very start, and I know that somewhere along the way of this  _exciting_ journey, you realized that I wasn’t such a bad person,” Dan started fuming, and Phil flinched, the worst part about it all was that it was true, every bit of it. “I also know that at some point you realized you didn’t  _really_ want to sell me, and I know you want to take it all back, but newsflash, Phil:  _you’re too late_. So you don’t get to apologize or take everything you did back because you had your chance, and you lost it.”

Phil swallowed thickly,  _well damn, if that didn’t sting._

The worst part was that Dan was right, he was right about everything, even the fact that Phil  _was_ going to apologize. However, Phil supposed he couldn’t really say sorry now. Instead, he cleared his throat and looked Dan straight in the eye. “I was just going to say: make sure to get out, Dan. Whichever fucking bastard is lucky enough to buy you, make  _sure_ you get out.”

“Of course, you know that out of everyone, you were the only one who was lucky enough to keep me.” Dan smiled sadly. “Let’s do this, shall we?”

Phil didn’t really have anything to say, he stood speechless and nodded dumbly, silently following Dan into the auction house.

The door that Dan had opened led into a back room right behind the stage. Phil could hear the yelling and cheers coming from all the eager buyers, it was a bit excessive and terrifying. There were probably hundreds of people ready to spend every gold coin they had on Dan, and hundreds more just wanting to get a peek at him. It was unnerving to say the least, but there wasn’t much Phil could do about it.

“Is that it?” Mr. Thompson spoke up from behind Phil, his voice was full of wonder and amazement.

Phil seriously wanted to punch Mr. Thompson for calling Dan an  _it_ , but he had already been through that conversation with Finn and Phil figured Mr. Thompson wouldn’t take it as well as Finn had.

“Yes,” Phil muttered through clenched teeth, looking at Dan for a brief moment to see how he was taking this, though he seemed rather unfazed by the whole situation.

Mr. Thompson started to walk around Dan and study him. “Magnificent,” Mr. Thompson muttered. He reached up to touch Dan’s wing, but Dan growled and quickly stepped away from him. “Feisty. It needs a lot of training.” Mr. Thompson commented.

“Oh, I don’t know, it just depends on who’s giving the orders,” Phil smirked, briefly locking eyes with Dan.

Mr. Thompson scoffed. “Are you telling me that you could command this beast to attack me and it would?” He asked in disbelief.

“I’m not sure,” Phil shrugged. “Would you like me to put that theory to the test?” Phil questioned smugly, looking over at Dan to see him barely containing his laughter—luckily an action that Mr. Thompson  _did not_ catch.

Mr. Thompson cleared his throat. “Ah, no, I’ll be quite alright without a demonstration.”

“Good,” Phil said, though he would’ve  _loved_ to see Dan beat the living shit out of Mr. Thompson. “Shall we get on with the auction then?”

“I suppose,” Mr. Thompson paused. “Though don’t you think that this creature may be lacking restraints.

“Of course not, Mr. Thompson, the cuffs he are wearing keep him from shifting and they minimize most of his powers,” Phil lied swiftly, granted, it  _wouldn’t_  have been a lie if Dan hadn’t broke those damn cuffs. Not that Phil could complain too much, the lack of magical handcuffs gave Dan an easier escape route, and that’s what  _really_ mattered.

“I didn’t know such a thing existed,” Mr. Thompson uttered.

Phil silently wondered how Mr. Thompson couldn’t know that because Phil had owned the cuffs for  _years,_  but he didn’t want to waste time on questioning the older man’s stupidity. “Well, they do,” Phil grumbled. “Now can we please get on with this auction?” he added the question, annoyed, the more he stood there talking, the more he wanted to beat Mr. Thompson up and leave this godawful place  _with_  Dan.

“Right, yes, of course,” Mr. Thompson said quickly, he walked over to the door that led onto the stage and opened it, all the yelling and cheers suddenly became so much louder and a wave of nausea hit Phil. “After you.”

Phil subconsciously took a hold of Dan’s hand and slowly started walking towards the stage. His heart rate was suddenly through the roof and a lump formed in his throat. The closer he got to the stage, the slower he walked. His breathing was getting overly erratic and–

“Phil,” Dan’s voice suddenly whispered in his ear. “Calm down, everything will be fine;  _I’ll_ be fine, I promise.”

Dan was right, he was always right. He was a dragon for God’s sake, he was one of the most powerful creatures on Earth, nothing could hurt him. However, Phil’s dad was a dragon too, and he wasn’t fine. No one Phil ever cared about was fine, they always ended up getting hurt and it was all Phil’s fault.

“But what if–” Phil started.

“ _Trust_ me,” Dan said assuredly, and Phil  _did_. He trusted Dan to no end, but that was what scared him the most. Everyone Phil has ever trusted or cared for have ended up dead, and it was typically Phil’s fault. Phil wasn’t a good person to be around, he was bad luck and the people closest to him always ended up hurt.

However, for whatever reason, he believed that Dan was going to survive all of this. He believed that Dan knew what he was doing and that he’d make it out alive. So,  _yes_ , Phil trusted that Dan was going to be fine. It was just hard to ignore all the things that could easily go wrong.

“The people are getting anxious, Captain Lester.” Mr. Thompson spoke, nodding his head toward the direction of the stage.

“Right, let’s not keep them waiting then,” Phil forced a smirk, he had to act confident. If word got out that The Great Captain Lesteractually had  _feelings_ , things would not end well for anybody.

Phil took a deep breath and walked out onto the stage, softly pulling Dan behind him. As soon as Phil set foot onto the stage the cheers increased tenfold, and he had strain to keep himself from flinching from the sheer amount of noise that was being produced. Dan, however, seemed unaffected.

Phil was actually kind of amazed by the amount of people that showed up, it was more people than he had ever seen at an auction. Though, he couldn’t decide if that made him feel better or worse about the entire thing.

Phil observed the room for only a moment longer before he decided that he was done with everyone’s screaming. He took a deep breath in before he yelled at everyone to  _shut up._ After all, there wasn’t really a  _good_ way to get a room full of over a hundred people to be quiet.

As soon as everyone quieted down, it was Phil’s queue to start talking. “Now,” he started, “I know everyone is overly excited today, and that is because of the marvelous creature standing next to me.” Phil aimed a gesture to Dan as he spoke. “I’ve been trying to hunt a dragon down for as long as I can remember, and I know the majority of you seriously doubted me, but I’m glad to be able to prove you wrong,” Phil added smugly; there was no way he was going to do this auction without bragging just a little.

“Anyway, I know none of you really care about that, but I know that you  _do_  care about this lovely dragon standing next to me,” Phil stated, looking over at Dan again, whom of which was behaving strangely well. “H– _it_  isn’t really trained, so please don’t consider buying it unless you have the proper equipment and skills to handle such a creature.” As Phil continued his explanation, he was starting to become rather anxious and he could  _feel_  the way his breathing faltered for a moment.

“However, who am I to say what you can and can’t handle? Let’s talk about the cost. I hope you are all aware that I won’t be bidding off such a magnificent creature for such a small price, in fact, I’m bidding it for nearly ten times the price of any normal creatures.”

A bunch of disappointing and disapproving grunts came from across the audience, but he didn’t particularly care about them at the moment, especially with the way he was feeling.

“With that being said, the starting bid for this creature is ten thousand gold coins.”

The typical price for an average vampire or warlock would be around one thousand coins, if not less, but Phil was  _not_ going to sell Dan for such a measly cost. In fact, he almost wanted to raise the price so high that not even the richest people could’ve bought him, but he kept himself from doing so.

“I know that most of you cannot afford such a thing, and for that I am sorry, but you must know that finding and capturing a dragon was no easy task, and if you ask me, the cost isn’t high enough,” Phil explained truthfully, well, besides the apologies part.

By then, Phil was  _really_  starting to feel sick, but he couldn’t afford to show any type of weakness in front of all these people, so he swallowed thickly and tried to hurry things up. “Anyway, I’m going to let Mr. Thompson complete the rest of the bidding process; good luck to all of you.”

Phil motioned for Mr. Thompson to come forward and take things over while Phil went to stand beside Dan. Phil gripped onto Dan’s wrist for some comfort, but he made sure to make it look as if he was just providing extra supervision over Dan.

Everyone’s eyes were on Mr. Thompson as he went over the rules of the bid and made sure everything was in order. Phil thought it as the perfect opportunity to speak his concerns to Dan.

“Dan,” Phil whispered softly, he knew that  _some_ people would probably be watching them, but he didn’t have it in him to care at that moment.

“What?” Dan hissed quietly.

“I’m not sure if I can go through with this,” Phil admitted truthfully, there was no reason he had to do this anymore, there never really  _was_ a reason. He didn’t want revenge anymore and he already had enough money to last him a life time. The only thing he truly wanted anymore was Dan.

“What?!” Dan growled out, still in a fairly low whisper, but that didn’t stop a few people from looking over at them, but they quickly looked back at Mr. Thompson when they didn’t find anything of particular interest going on.

Phil stood quietly for a minute before continuing. “There’s no  _reason_ that this is going on, this  _shouldn’t_ be going on,” Phil tried to explain in as few words as possible, but he didn’t think that his point was getting across clearly.

“It’s not like you can stop it,” Dan grumbled angrily, clearing just wanting Phil to  _shut up_  and let things play out.

Phil knew that Dan was probably right; he knew there was no way that this was going to end well if he tried to stop it, but he couldn’t go through with it either. Dan had become too important to Phil to simply give him away, and he’d be damned if he didn’t even  _try_ to go down without a fight.

“Watch me,” Phil argued as he tuned back into the actual auction. The bidding had already started by then and Phil was surprised when he realized that the price was nearly up by double of what he was asking, but he didn’t dwell on that fact for too long.

“Eighteen thousand coins, eighteen thousand,” There was a brief pause. “Going once, going twi–”

“Stop!” Phil yelled, successfully silencing Mr. Thompson and everyone else in the room, except for Dan, who grumbled a quiet ‘ _dammit, Phil_ ’ from behind him. “I’m calling the auction off,” Phil said with as much confident as he could muster, and despite knowing that there was no way that this could end well, he felt like he finally made the right decision. The room suddenly filled with yelling and screaming, and Phil was now faced with nearly a hundred pissed off people.

Phil swallowed thickly as he faced the angry horde in front of him; looking out at all the people shouting and screaming made Phil’s stomach tie in uncomfortable knots and his hands shake viciously. It was  _not_ going to be easy to convince a crowd of vexed ruffians to simply give up on buying the rarest of creatures to walk the earth, especially with how uneasy it made Phil feel.

Phil closed his eyes and took a deep breath; for  _fuck’s_ sake, Phil was the most feared pirate captain to sail the seven seas, he shouldn’t be feeling shaken up by a bunch of lowly, desperate commoners. He had captured thousands of creatures, destroyed entire civilizations, hell, he’s even killed  _hundreds_ of people, he shouldn’t be feeling anxious about stopping a simple auction.

With that thought in mind, Phil cleared all of his nervousness away and  _yelled._ “Quiet!” Phil silenced the entire room,  _again_. “I have worked too fucking hard to capture a dragon and I’ll be damned if any of you filthy bastards ruin what I’ve worked for. None of you deserve to own such a precious creature, hell, not even  _I_  deserve  _him_!” Phil screamed at them.

The room once again became an uproar, and some people actually left, clearly not wanting to be part of such a riot. Still, many stayed to shout and insult Phil, and some even started throwing things at him.

“You’ve gone soft, Lester!” someone claimed.

“We were promised an auction!” another complained.

“This is bullshit!” a man snapped, actually having the audacity to throw a  _knife_ at him, but Phil swiftly and easily dodged it.

“Don’t you fucking hurt him!” Dan suddenly shouted from his position on the stage.

The riot paused. Everyone’s eyes looked up at Dan when he spoke, clearly surprised that he even had the  _ability_ to speak considering how quiet he had been this entire time. “You can insult _me_ and hurt  _me_ all you want, but if you  _dare_ try to hurt him again I will personally kill you!”

The same man that threw the knife gave a laugh. “What could you possibly do to me while chained up, beast?”

Dan’s jaw visibly clenched and he quickly snapped free of his cuffs and leapt onto the man, gripping him around his throat and wringing the life out of him. Before Phil could really comprehend what was happening, nearly half the people in room took out their weapons and all simultaneously charged towards Dan. Phil noticed that a few of his crewmates were in the room trying to fight everyone off, which bought Phil a little bit of time, if only a few seconds.

“Dan!” Phil yelled, trying to catch his attention, which thankfully Dan noticed. It only took a split second for Dan to realize what was happening around him and he quickly let go of the man’s throat and flew up into the air, just barely avoiding getting sliced open. Phil actually had to take a moment to breathe, as he had had  _no idea_  that Dan could fly while still in human form, Phil didn’t think that Dan’s wings were strong enough to hold him up, but  _clearly_ , they were.

However, even though Dan managed to get out of immediate danger, they were still in a lot of trouble. There weren’t nearly as many people in the room as their was before, maybe forty or so if Phil’s crew was taken into account, but they were still outnumbered. Phil also quickly realized that he didn’t have a weapon on him and he silently cursed himself for forgetting such a valuable item, but luck was apparently on his side because he heard someone call his name from the crowd and he quickly locked eyes with Finn.

Finn smiled at him and held up a sword. “I thought you might need this,” he yelled through all the screaming and tossed the sword to Phil, which he easily caught and drew.

“Thanks!” he called back, but he was pretty sure that the word got drowned out with all the noise.

With his sword in hand, he took a quick glance at Dan to make sure he was alright, and jumped into battle with everyone else. It had been quite a while since he was in a battle with so many people, and he was rather excited to be in one again. The clashing of swords and flesh being ripped clean open filled Phil with exhilaration and adrenaline, he truly did miss it. However, he had to keep in mind that these weren’t like the creatures that he typically fought, but rather  _humans_ , and as much as he would love to kill everyone in that room, he couldn’t afford to be known as the pirate captain who killed everyone at his own auction. So unfortunately, Phil had to be  _gentle_ and try to knock everyone out instead, but if a few people died along the way, no one could blame him.

Phil’s sword came crashing down onto some poor bastard’s hand and then swung to clash with another sword. Phil fixed his footing so he wouldn’t fall and continued to battle with the man in front of him. Surprisingly, the man wasn’t half bad, though he wasn’t quite good enough to beat Phil; within a few minutes, Phil had managed to disarm and knock the man out with the hilt of his sword. Phil’s crew weren’t quite as outnumbered as they were before, but there was still a fair amount of people left to fight off. Phil took another look at Dan just to make sure he was safe, and he let out a light chuckle when he saw that Dan was in the air, burning anyone who came close to him.

However, Phil’s smile dropped when he noticed a man behind Dan with a bow and arrow aimed directly at Dan’s chest. Phil’s breathing became uneven as he started running towards Dan. “Dan! Move!” He yelled as loud as he could, but he was too late. The man had already let go of the arrow and it flew through the air at speeds unimaginable, then it pierced Dan right through the chest and Phil felt like his world came crashing down around him. Dan fell to the ground with a devastating cry and Phil’s heart dropped in his stomach.

At first, all Phil saw was  _red_. He was boiling with anger and as soon as he was close enough, he ran his sword right through the chest of the man who shot the arrow. Then came the pain, an absolute agony ran through Phil’s veins as he realized what just happened. Dan… was he? Phil ran towards Dan, pushing a couple people out of the way as he did so, not even caring about the battle that was going on. Besides, everyone was either dead or seriously injured by then, and Phil was sure that his crewmates would take care of the rest.

Phil kneeled down beside Dan and checked his quickly fading pulse. “Dan?” He asked softly, his voice breaking.

“Phi–” Dan didn’t even manage to get the word out before he started severely coughing. Some blood started dripping from his lips and his eyes were hazy and unfocused.

“Shh, Dan, don’t talk,” Phil instructed quietly, doing whatever he could to prevent anymore blood loss. “You’ll be okay,” he assured, though he was trying to convince himself more than he was Dan. Phil had no idea what to do, his hands were so shaky and his eyes were blurred with tears, but he refused to let them fall. He didn’t know the first thing about saving someone’s life, especially not in such a severe condition.

“Phil?” Someone softly spoke from behind above him.

Phil looked up, seeing PJ standing over him. “Help him,” Phil begged, not even caring how broken he sounded.

“Phil,” PJ said again, softly. “He’s gone.”

“What?” Phil swallowed, he looked back down at Dan and noticed that he wasn’t breathing. Phil quickly checked his pulse and he felt a new wave of agony hit him as he realized that Dan was really gone.

“No…” Phil whispered. “No,” he said again, louder. “He can’t be dead–you  _can’t_ be dead, Dan. You  _promised_ me you’d be fine!” Phil suddenly yelled. “I trusted you, Dan! You promised you’d survive this, you said you’d live, you  _said_  you’d get out… I trusted you… I–” Phil trailed off, his voice breaking at the end, tears started to freely fall down his cheeks, and Phil didn’t even care anymore.

“I’ve lost everyone, Dan,” Phil cried out. “You were the one who was supposed to be safe, you were supposed to live… Why couldn’t you live?” Phil felt so broken and lost, he didn’t know what to do anymore, he had nothing.

Phil hugged Dan close to his chest and let out a broken cry. “I’m so sorry, Dan,” Phil whimpered. “I couldn’t save you,” he muttered, he lightly kissed Dan’s forehead and kept mumbling incoherent apologies. With each passing second, more and more tears fell from Phil’s cheek, some even getting into Dan’s wounds, but Phil didn’t care, how could he? Dan was dead and he wasn’t coming back.

“I’m sorry–so, so sorry. Please, just-” Phil broke down into another fit of sobs. his stomach was in knots and he felt as if his will to breath had left him; it had gotten to the point where he was gasping and choking on air just to get an ounce of oxygen into his lungs. How could this have possibly happened? How could Phil have  _let_ this happen? Surely if he would’ve just tried harder, ran faster, yelled louder— _something,_ then maybe Dan wouldn’t be… gone. God, Phil hated this; he hated this so much…

“Phil?”

“Please, just leave me alone,” Phil begged, hugging Dan closer to his chest.

“Phil, you’re suffocating me.”

Phil’s eyes suddenly widened, he sat up and lightly pushed Dan away from him, he looked down on Dan, who was now coughing and blinking blearily, somehow more alive then he should be.

“Dan? But how…? You were  _dead,_ you didn’t have a  _pulse_ ,” Phil said quickly, barely managing to keep up with his own words.

Dan didn’t answer, but he brought his hands up towards Phil’s face, lightly brushing away the tears on his cheeks. “Have you ever thought that  _maybe_ that story about dragon tears is true?” he asked softly.

“But–I’m  _not_ a dragon, Dan,” Phil said, trying to make sense of Dan’s logic.

Dan raised his eyebrows and smiled weakly. “Not completely, no.”

“I–you–” Phil stuttered; he  _hated_ it when Dan made sense.

“I’m not even going to  _ask_ what the fuck you two are on about,” Chris suddenly spoke up from behind him. “We should seriously get going, these guys aren’t going to stay knocked out forever.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Phil mumbled as he began to get up, however, Dan pulled him back to the ground and pulled his face towards his own so their noses were almost touching.

“Hey, Phil?” he asked.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you,” Dan planted a small kiss on Phil’s lips. “For everything.”

Phil’s eyes widened in surprise as his mind processed the small yet hugely significant kiss Dan had just given him. He didn’t have quite enough time to think over the meaning of it, but he knew that it meant a lot more than just a simple friendly gesture, and that thought alone caused Phil to feel all bubbly inside. “Anytime, dragon-boy,” Phil smiled blissfully, and for once in his life, he felt truly and utterly content. 


End file.
